Flexible shingle



1936. H. ABRAHAM 0,2 8

FLEXIBLE SHINGLE Filed Oct. 12, 1953 INVENTOR 79 He/fier/ 06/0/70/77.

BY I

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 4, 1936 PATENT OFFICE FLEXIBLE SHINGLE Herbert Abraham, New York, N. Y., assignor to The Ruberoid (10., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 12, 1933, Serial No. 693,286

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to flexible shingles, and to ro'ofings, sidings, or other coverings made therefrom, in which the shingles are laid in courses with those of one course headlapping and sidelapping those of two adjacent shingles in the preceding course. More particularly, the invention relates to flexible shingles of a general T-shape, having a head, a narrower butt or shank, and an intermediate stepped portion.

An object of the invention is the provision of a T-shaped shingle having oppositely disposed, notched or hooked tabs on its shank, each for interlockment with a step in the intermediate portion of one of the laterally ofiset, adjacent and underlying shingles in the next preceding course for holding the shingles interlocked; and, by abutment of tab and step, for automatically determining a given headlap of one on the other of the interlocked shingles.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a shingle in which the distance of the step abutment from the top edge of the shingle exceeds its distance from the bottom edge by the amount of allowed headlap.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear upon reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the shingle;

Fig. 2 shows a sheet blank and manner of cutting the shingles therefrom; and

Fig. 3 is a view showing in plan an assembly of the shingles in several courses.

Referring to Figure 1, each shingle is shown as having a head iii, a narrower butt or shank H, and an intermediate portion l2 in which its width is reduced from its width between the side lines l3 of the head to its width between the side lines I 4 of the shank. This reduction takes place, in the instance "shown, in two steps l6 and II. The shoulder lines l5l5 demark the lower line of the head; the lines l'l-l'l. the top of the shank; and between the levels I5--l5 and l'l-Il is the so-called intermediate portion, within which latter are the steps Iii-I6 at a level which measures and determines the overlap of the heads of the shingles of one course on those to the right and left thereof in the preceding course.

The distance from the top line l8 of the shingle head to the line of shoulder l6l6 exceeds the distance of the bottom line IQ of the shank, from such shoulder l6--l6, by just the amount that the head portion ll) of one shingle overlaps the upper' edge l8 of a subjacent shingle.

On the shingle shank, at the foot thereof, are

laterally projecting tabs 20, one at each side, having their base lines as continuations of the base line l9 of the shank, and having their upper edges 2| incised or shaped outward and upward, as hooks, from the points 22 of juncture of the 5 tabs with the shank. As more particularly shown in Fig. 3, it is 'by abutment of the tabs 20 of one shingle, at the points 22 thereof, with the shoulder I 6 of shingles to the right and left thereof in the preceding course, that the setting for a 10 given headlap is determined.

In the shingle assembly, the points 22 of the tabs coincide with the points 23 at the corners of the shoulders l6; and the tabs having previously been bent under the shoulders I! of the 15 underlying shingles, those portions of the tabs above the coinciding points 22 and 23 constitute elements which interlock laterally, as hooks, with the shoulders l6, for positioning and holding of one shingle on another. Nails 24 in the shoulders 0 l6 serve for attachment of the shingles to the structure to be covered; and these nails are located where their heads will be lapped and covered by shingles in succeeding courses.

As has been noted, the vertical length of each 25 shingle above the shoulders |Bl6 is greater than its vertical length below said shoulders by the amount of the desired headlap. However, by cutting the shingles in the manner shown in Fig. 2, shingles of such asymmetrical form may be cut 30 symmetrically from a sheet or web of prepared roofing material with a minimum of waste. In cutting, the web or sheet is severed longitudinally along the center line 21, intermediate the side edges 26 and 28, forming two longitudinal strips. It will be observed that in so cutting the shoulders l6 fall in the medial line of each strip and that the only waste incurred is that defined by the dot-and-dash lines 25 at spaced intervals along the marginal edges 26 and 28, and the longitudinal center line 21, of the web or sheet. The cuts 29 in the upper corners of the heads, see Figure 1, are seen in Fig. 2 to be mere functionless incidents of the cutting of the shank tabs 20. r

In applying the shingles as shown in Fig. 3, those of the first course are laid in horizontal alignment with their shank bases l9 on a common base line, and with the vertical edges l3 of the heads in lateral abutment; the shingles being then secured by nails 24. In the next succeeding course, each shingle is set over two abutting shingles of the preceding course in such manner that its shank, with tabs 23 thereof, falls between the opposed vertical edges M of the shanks of adjacent shingles in such preceding course; the shingles being preferably so dimensioned that the spacing of such opposed edges ll of adjacent shingles in the preceding course just receives the tab shank of the superposed shingle, so to determine a proper preliminary setting, 01 the shingle of one course with respect to two underlying shingies of the preceding course.

The superposed shingle is then slid upward, its tabs 20 being bent and passed rmtively under the right shoulder 11 of the shingle to its left, and the left shoulder ll of the shingle to its right. When, by this upward movement, the tabs 20 at the corners 22, strike the shoulder edges IS in the stepped intermediate portions of such underlying shingles, the supe pos d shingle will be arrested in correct position vertically with respect to the underlying shingles; and, since corners 22 and 23 will then coincide, the shingles must also be in correct lateral setting. Preferably, as shown in the drawing, the shingles are so designed that the base lines I! of shingles in one course coincide with the shoulder lines ll of the shingles of the preceding course.

As indicated in dotted lines, in Fig. 3, when the shingles are thus set, the upper inclined edges 2| of the tabs 28 protrude upward under the shoulders ll of underlying shingles, and with the corners 22 and 23 coinciding, those portions of the tabs above the corners 22 serve as hooks or abutments interlocking with the shoulders IE or the underlying shingles, to hold down the shanks or butts of the shingles so hooked together.

When a shingle of one course has been set upon adjacent, laterally offset, shingles of a preceding course, in the manner just described, there will have been automatically effected a predetermined headlap 01. the head IU of the last laid shingle on the other two.

What I claim is:

1. An interlocking flexible shingle of substantially T-shape comprising a rectangular head portion, and a rectangular shank portion 01' narrower width than the head portion and having a locking tab at each side of its lower end, said shingle being reduced in width from its widest portion to its narrowest portion in two similar steps each of equal height.

2. An interlocking flexible shingle oi substantially T-shape comprising a rectangular head portion, and a rectangular shank portion 01 narrower width than the head portion and having a locking tab at each side of its lower end, said shingle being reduced in width from its widest portion to its narrowest portion in two similar steps each of equal height, the vertical height of the head portion from the top edge of the shingle to the lower edge of the widest portion being greater than the vertical height or the shank portion from the lower edge of the shingle to the upper edge of the shank portion.-

HERBERT ABRAHAM. 

